Ex-Call of Duty Designer Who Survived Crunch to Launch Black Ops 1 & 2 Calls Out Executives “Raking It In” From Remaster Sales

A former long-time Call of Duty developer has called out Activision executives profiteering from the re-release of games like Black Ops 1 and 2, whereas the developers who contributed “blood, sweat, and tears” to make them gained nothing.

Gavin Goslin worked at Treyarch for more than 15 years as a level artist and level designer, and in a LinkedIn post reacting to low effort re-releases of Black Ops 1 & 2 this year, said: “They are printing money off of work completed over a decade ago.

“As a developer who actually worked on both BO1 and BO2, seeing these charts is bittersweet. I poured my life into those games, spending countless, brutal hours in crunch alongside an incredibly talented team to make sure they were perfect. Seeing our blood, sweat, and tears still dominating the charts in 2026 is amazing, but it’s hard to watch the suits rake in giant financial windfalls from our old code while the actual creators don’t see a dime of it.”

The post was subsequently picked up by various gaming websites – a recirculation Goslin reacted to in a separate post on LinkedIn today. “I am glad this critical conversation is gaining traction,” Goslin said.

“To watch executives rake in massive financial windfalls off our old code, while the actual creators face unemployment and don’t see a dime of that new compensation, highlights a fundamental flaw in how our industry values its talent,” Goslin added. “If legacy games are going to print money for publishers in 2026, legacy rewards and protections need to exist for the developers who survived the crunch to build them.”

We have asked Activision for comment about these claims.

The Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 & 2 re-releases, released in July, were reportedly a huge success for Activision and owner Microsoft, selling something like 11 million copies and raking in nearly $450m. This is despite the fact they are not remasters but simple re-releases. US data-tracker Circana not only highlighted Black Ops 1 & 2 as the highest earning game in July, but called it the fifth highest-earning game of the year. It’s a remarkable success for simply re-issuing these roughly 15-year-old games.

Meanwhile, the new Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 4, prepares for release this Friday, 23rd October, buoyed by a very positive reaction to its campaign, by players with pre-order early access to the game. We’re in the process of reviewing the game and will share our thoughts soon.

Mentioned in this article

Call of Duty: Black Ops

See 1 more

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Also mentioned

+ 6 more ›

Up next

AMD, the company that designs the chips inside Xbox and PlayStation consoles, made a big announcement this week: it’s bringing the latest version of its advanced, AI-driven image upscaling technology, FSR 4.1, to Xbox Series X, Series S, and handhelds ROG Ally and Ally X.

An older version of FSR is already supported on Xbox, but FSR 4.1 is its most advanced release. You may recall FSR 4.1 arrived on Steam Machine and Steam Deck shortly after the former’s launch in the summer, and it has proven to be a useful option for players looking for a sharper image.

FSR works by rendering the game at a lower resolution, which is then upscaled to a higher resolution by using machine learning algorithms. This allows supported hardware to deliver better quality visuals without putting extra strain on hardware, or by giving more consistent performance.

While all Xbox platforms stand to benefit from FSR 4.1’s arrival, Series S and the more hardware-constrained Ally and Ally X handhelds could see the biggest gains. In that way, Microsoft is extending the life of the Series consoles by allowing its aging hardware to do more.

The timing of this announcement is particularly notable, too, as just a couple of weeks ago, Sony introduced QSSR – a similar machine learning-based upscaling technology – for PlayStation 5. QSSR is the less capable sibling of PSSR, which is exclusive to PS5 Pro.

FSR 4.1’s arrival also comes as new reports suggest Xbox’s next generation Project Helix consoles could cost upwards of $1,800, which would significantly hinder its adoption rate, considering its price.

“We’ve worked very closely with AMD to optimise this technology, giving developers another powerful tool for great performance and visual quality for players,” said Xbox chief technology officer (CTO) Scott Van Vliet.

“And this is just the beginning. Our teams are continuing to work together across hardware and software, and there’s even more ahead with Project Helix, leveraging FSR Diamond to power what comes next.”

AMD did not offer a specific date as to when FSR 4.1 will arrive on Xbox Series consoles, but it’s going to be interesting to see how the image quality compares to PS5’s QSSR.

Mentioned in this article